Jazz Minds

Just got off the phone with my friend Aaron Aranita and he mentioned that he would be playing at the new jazz club "Jazz Minds" on Kapiolani Boulevard this Friday from 8pm to 11pm. He'll be putting together a jazz trio where he will be playing keyboards and perhaps a little sax.

Speaking of the sax, got a chance on Tuesday, October 4, 2005 to stop by "Studio 6" in the Musicians' Union building at 949 Kapiolani Boulevard to listen to Aaron Aranita as he was the special guest for the evening. Has it already been two weeks? My how the time passes by so quickly. Studio 6 if you don't already know is Honolulu icon Rich Crandall's weekly gig (will post some stuff on Studio 6 and Rich in the future to give you some background of this venue). Just a short note on Studio 6. Thank goodness the lights were dimmed. Reminded me of the days when this place called "The Magic Mushroom" existed. With the lights dimmed Studio 6 had a rustic jazzy ambience. You look at the walls hung with paintings and framed posters of jazz stuff and you see walls stained by water that was left from a heavy rain in passing. You get the drift don't you, cozy, but not your five star type of place. That October 4, 2005 evening had Rich Crandall on piano, Ernie Provencher on stand-up bass, Adam Baron on drums and Aaron Aranita as the featured artist on tenor saxophone. It was cool, real cool to partake of jazz at its very best.

The evening began with Rich, Ernie and Adam doing a jazz rendition of Donovan Leitch's 1966 No. 1 chart buster "Sunshine Superman". You remember the tune don't you? "Sunshine came softly a to my window today....." Well you know. 1966??? Sheesh!!!! Nice jazz rendition. Aaron then joined the trio to do "Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise", then "Where the Wind Blows" from his newest CD release. Ten songs in all and I was not a bit unsatisfied. Nice venue and great jazz in the comforts of a homey and cozy ambience. A great evening, this was truly Cool, Tropical and Jazz in one setting. Cool Tropical Jazz!!!!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @